Merari's mother, Denny Perez, said she didn't know when they moved into their Poinciana home about four months ago that they were on the Polk County side of the community.

Because of that, her children can't attend nearby Poinciana schools in Osceola County.

When Perez found out her children would have to attend schools far from home, she said through Merari, who translated, "I wanted to move back to New York."

Perez doesn't have a car and fears that if something happened to her children at school, she wouldn't have a way to get to them.

Perez joked that if she had to pick up Merari from school and started walking, "she'd get there tomorrow," Merari said.

"It's hard when the school is an hour away, when in New York it was 15 minutes," Perez said through Merari.

But in upcoming years, some of Perez's children will have the opportunity to attend schools much closer to home.

Polk County to date has plans to open two schools in Poinciana, and one will be across the street from Perez's home.

The first of the two schools -- the Poinciana School -- is scheduled to open by August as an elementary school on Laurel Avenue, which initially will exist primarily with portables, school-district officials said.

Relying on portables -- or modular classrooms -- is the fastest way to build and open a school, said district planner Karen Collins.

School officials also have plans to build Lake Marion Creek School, which will be designed as a middle school but will likely open as an elementary.

That school will be constructed off Myakka Road and Lake Marion Creek Drive, Collins said. It could open in 2007.

Avatar Properties Inc., developer of the sprawling Poinciana community, donated the land to Polk County for that school.

"It's going to be great for the community," said Tony Iorio, vice president of land development for Avatar. "We've been strong supporters . . . in working with the school districts."

School Board member Lori Cunningham said she's looking forward to the new schools opening in not only Poinciana, but also in other Four Corners locations.

"We're very excited about meeting the needs of our growth," she said.

"My goal is . . . to try to work as a school board to develop plans for new schools before the overcrowding gets to the point where it is a problem."

Overcrowding is already a problem at many elementary schools throughout Polk County.

Eastside and Sandhill elementary schools, zoned for students who live in Poinciana, are about 1,100 children over capacity, district officials said.